#child mortality

[reasonsforhope]

Why is the world like this?

Add this to my "weird reasons for hope" tag:

You know, the more I learn about people - about myself, society, psychology, language - the more I begin to think that a truly shocking number of conflicts - interpersonal and large scale - can be explained by some combination of:

Cognitive biases x, x

The fact that we're generally accidentally insulting each other all the time without realizing it, actually x, x, x, x

The fact that there have been a lot of different explanations for How Things Are and How Things Came to Be, believed in very strongly by different groups and people throughout history, and a hell of a lot of those explanations have now been empirically disproven (e.g., the earth is four billion years old, not six thousand) x, x, x

Trauma/intergenerational trauma and epigenetics x, x, x

50% child mortality rate for all of human history until the past 150 years, and much higher rates and younger ages of adult mortality, too x, x

All that constant heavy metal poisoning in Europe and North America from the late 1700s to like the 1970s-1990s (highly correlated with increased aggression and lower IQ*) x, x, x, x *ETA: IQ is a fundamentally flawed concept. It has a lot of issues and has been used to perpetuate a lot of bullshit and justify even more horrible bullshit. However, as the second source argues, it does look like it's a useful measure of cognitive damage and certain neuropsychological processes

Scarcity (x) and especially:

Europeans were historically pretty bad at agriculture and medicine, actually, but they decided they knew best and killed or persecuted everyone who disagreed with them and forced their shitty methods on the whole world via colonialism x, x, x, x, x, x

(Yes, and also capitalism, but everything on that list is older than capitalism, which coalesced in the mid-/late-1700s and early 1800s x, x; the first known use of the word "capitalism" is 1833 x)

Which ig sounds like a lot, but honestly? All those things are a lot more fucking fixable than "humans are innately and uniquely evil" or "humans are inherently stupid/too stupid to survive"

[earlgraytay]

i don't think this author knows about the child mortality graph.

like. I understand that anthropology is the cultural relativity discipline, that half the point and half the job is going, "okay, these people believe stuff that we don't, it makes sense within their cultural context, let's treat it with the respect we'd give any other idea (and take our own ideas apart from the same point of view)". I understand that. I get that there are no sacred cows in anth - unless you're in India- I get it.

But you cannot look at this goddamn graph:

-- and tell me that the only difference between scary icky Enlightenment-white-guy invasive buzzwordy Western biomedicine and everything else is cultural values.

[fuckingconversations]

Fun reminder that the “reduced fertility” and “fewer people are having babies!” As an argument that society is somehow collapsing and “women are rejecting men” is Absolute Garbage. Misinformation and misdirection at best.

Actual Reasons fewer babies are being born in the USA;

1. Infant and small-child mortality has been greatly reduced, thanks to vaccines and better medical care.

Instead of 25-30% of all children expected to die before age 5 as it was 150 years ago, (and 40%+ from 200 years ago.) it’s down to only 0.65%:

When my great-grandmother was born, she was advised to have at least 4 children, because it was expected that she might lose one or two to diseases that we now have vaccines for, and another to an infection or injury.

Better medicine = Fewer dead children = less pressure to have extras “just in case”

2. Adolescent pregnancy has plummeted in the last 20 years.

According to CDC.gov, in 1960 there were approximately 43 births per 1,000 females aged 15-17.

So, if your 1940’s highschool had 1,000 students total, and half were capable of childbirth, you’d expect about 20-ish babies born to your under-18 classmates, each year. About 14% of those pregnant classmates were on their second or third baby. (If they stayed in school at all. Many dropped out and didn’t finish highschool).

In 2023 We’re down to 5.6 per 1,000. The majority of those under-18 births occur in Southern states, where religious doctrine interferes with effective sexual education and access to sexual healthcare.

In the 1950’s, nearly 10% of all births were to teenagers. Now that’s down to 1-2%. So, 8% of the “decline in fertility” in the USA in the last 100 years is entirely due to fewer babies born to teenagers.

Which is a good thing!

3. Birth control is easier than ever to find and use. It’s cheap and EVERYWHERE.

There’s fewer “accidental” pregnancies and a lot more deliberate ones. Between physical barriers and long-term hormonal pills or implants… it’s harder to have an “oops” baby.

4. Economic and cultural shifts which make childcare harder.

Fewer people live in multigenerational households. Fewer people are retiring. It’s harder to leave your children with grandparents, when the grandparents live 20 miles away and ALSO have to go to work.

Housing and cost-of-living skyrocketing means both parents need to work, to afford a livelihood.

Childcare services are WILDLY expensive, to the point of being unaffordable to many.

Therefore, many more people choose to have 1 or zero children, because they believe they cannot afford it. They do not want to risk raising their children in poverty.

BIOLOGICAL FERTILITY HAS INCREASED, NOT DECREASED.

“Fertility” as the health and ability to bear heathy children has increased in the last 100 years, thanks to better healthcare and education.

Reduction of Disease, Malnutrition, Heavy Metal exposure, Alcohol exposure and dangerous “folk remedies” means there are fewer infertile people, fewer miscarriages, fewer stillborns, and far fewer infant-and-child deaths.

“Fertility” as the # of births-per-year has gone down, yes, for the reasons listed above.

But it’s not an epidemic of people rejecting society, or rejecting love, or hating men.

It’s mostly because we believe our babies will LIVE, and that our kids can be EDUCATED before having babies of their own, and that we now have CONTROL over our own bodies.

All of these are good things.

The financial pressure sucks tho

[katerinaaqu]

Given how common things like child death from illness, miscarriages, and sudden infant deaths were throughout most of history, I’m surprised more stories and sources in Greek Mythology don’t include that. I can’t really even think of one.

Do you think there’s a reason for that?

Well I would suspect for once Greek myth is a series of traditions that are meant to either symbolize the world or to excuse the existence of someone at an area or region.

A great deal of stories across the world oftentimes do not include the aspect of child or infant mortality from natural causes actually which is interesting

On one hand the Greek myth seems to photograph reality but at the same time it is not a history book. Therefore we tend to see things in a more idealistic light especially given how the heroes are also depicted idealistic up to one degree. Certain parts of their reality are not depicted in myths directly. However I would say they are hinted by several figures or symbols

The gods associated with youth, childbirth or coming of age are also associated with death up to one degree (Apollo is associated with disease and death of youths, Artemis is associated with childbirth and death of girls, Hermes is associated with youth but he is also psychopomb to the grave etc)

Miscarriage or premature birth seems to be symbolized with myths like Semele who died and her fetus was rescued by Zeus (the way I see it sounds like when a woman dies in premature labor or gives birth prematurely only gods can save the baby so maybe it was a hint of some premature births that survived?)

Deaths of young people and barely teens are depicted in various of myths that involve hunting accidents, sports accidents, miscalculations, suicide etc

The sacrifice of Iphigenia or myths like Callisto I supposed they could be seen as deaths of young women through childbirth as well given that they are associated with Artemis

Myths like Hera delaying the birth of Heracles show how difficulty in birth can be sangerous and oftentimes fatal given that Alcmene manages to give birth and be saved after Zeus's intervention or similarly with Leto and her twins (which could also indicate how duplicate and above births could be dangerous)

Premature births appear on myths like the part where Hera apparently dodged the prophecy by making Eurystheus be born earlier than his due date so that he would be born after Heracles

Myths involving exposure of children like Oedipus or Paris might also be indicative of such child or infant mortality

But yes I cannot remember from the top of my head other examples that could be mentioned there. I will keep digging

[our-pale-blue-home]

🤰🍼🩺 Three African countries are boosting their family planning funding in response to international aid cuts! Zambia, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have announced increased funding for reproductive health supplies and services to combat teenage pregnancy, maternal mortality, and child mortality. With aid cuts from countries like the U.S. – which fund more than 80% of family planning for millions of women and girls worldwide – these three nations are taking a huge step to maintain progress in reproductive health and birth control services!

Three countries boost family planning funding in ‘powerful shift from dependency’ in Africa after aid cuts

Zambia, Zimbabwe and DRC take steps to protect decades of progress in reproductive health, as donor fatigue leads to steep cuts in aid

If you’re enjoying what you see here, check us out on Instagram and Bluesky for more good news updates! 🩵

[politijohn]

Source

6th highest infant mortality rate in the country.

4th highest maternal mortality rate in the country.

Gov. Kay Ivy truly has no idea what she’s talking about

[readingreddingread]

Just thinking about the fact 1 in 3 pregnancies end in miscarriage, the fragility of infants and children under 7, and Catelyn pregnant during a war behind walls that could subject to siege without a mother to assure her or warn of things, but things she might know of the de-facto lady of a Lord Paramount's keep about births and deaths. No gory details directly as an unmarried lady but the news of who gave birth, if they lived, if that baby survived and how long would be directly known to her. Indirectly who knows what gossip and old wives tales she might have heard or read in histories of Queen Alysanne and her children. Or worse fantastical scary stories about rapacious Ironborn killing babies for fun. Either way she would know miscarriages are a thing, babies dying quietly in their cribs of no apparent reason happens, babies and small dying of an illness survived by everyone else happens, babies being born sickly doomed to die before their first name day, maybe even that small children wander off and fatally tumble down stairs or drown after a moments inattention. War for a soldier is described as hurry up and wait but for a civilian it's nothing but wait and hope action doesn't come your way. Royal prerogative is absolute in Catelyn's world, Tywin "elimated 2 rebellious house" Lannister was Aerys' ally for a very long time. As a Riverlander she would quite know well rebellions can fail and the consequences of losing. Starving and sickening during a siege can be as fatal as blade.

Imagining all that boiling in the back of Catelyn's mind as she went through her day-to-day duties as de-facto lady of Riverrun while growing in entire new human. Robb was the child who made her a mother, made her a mother in a scary uncertain time where if her father and husband lost the war she and her baby boy, her sweet little son with his downy scraps of red hair and soft little cheeks could be killed or separated forever. Then years later her baby boy is not a boy anymore leading a war in the Riverlands, her homeland and the first place she worried about his life and safety before he was even born yet. And they both die, but he dies first and she's helpless to do anything but watch him die as she perhaps fearfully imagined she would if the rebellion had been lost when he was a baby.

[spookcataloger]

Russian Shitsville (2019)